This invention relates to the processing of brine shrimp eggs to recover nutritional values.
The brine shrimp (Artemia sp.) has been the subject of extensive academic studies over at least the past 50 years. An entire wealth of academic literature is available that describes both the nutritional composition and benefits of Artemia, and the use of Artemia as a tropical fish food and as a larval feed in aquaculture. Additional extensive material has been published covering the biometric and chemical composition and functional aspects of Artemia.
It is important to note that Artemia can either produce live young or deposit encapsulated embryos (commonly called brine shrimp eggs or cysts). The direction toward live bearing or egg laying is dependent upon a number of physiological and genetic conditions in the brine shrimp as well as the brine shrimp's habitat. When the brine shrimp does Produce cysts, many are genetically coded and replete with the necessary enzymes and chemicals to identify and assist in the hatching process. Then, when the environmental conditions meet the hatching criteria, or when such conditions are induced artificially through controlled rehydration, these brine shrimp cysts will hatch and produce brine shrimp nauplii.
Despite the wealth of literature and academic study, there is still no definitive answer that addresses all of the points with respect to breaking dormancy and quiescence for the encapsulated brine shrimp embryo and triggering the hatching process. As a partial consequence of this lack of full scientific knowledge, it is well known and supported by empirical data that many brine shrimp cysts will not hatch under any conditions. In the past the nutritional value of such brine shrimp has remained untapped because there was no reasonable use for unhatchable cysts.
While techniques are well known for decapsulating such cysts, i.e., removing, by chemical action, the hard outer shell that encases the embryo (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,064), such decapsulation is often not cost effective and has still not yielded a viable embryo that can be used as a stand alone food. The standard decapsulation process, through its use of oxidizing and neutralizing agents, is also impractical to practice on a large scale due to the potential pollution caused by the chemicals incorporated in the process and the environmental concerns that are raised for the disposal of such chemicals. In fact, even if practiced, such deshelled brine shrimp eggs still have all of the drawbacks of the original brine shrimp cysts; and for utilization as a live food, they must still be hatched and fed as living nauplii to target species.
Further, there are some substantial differences in the nutritional (biochemical) value and composition between: (a) the encapsulated brine shrimp cyst; (b) the newly hatched nauplii that result when the brine shrimp cysts' diapause/quiescence is broken and metabolism has begun; and, (c) a fully grown adult brine shrimp. In the past there has been no method for tapping into the differing nutritional value of the encapsulated cysts, short of going through the hatching process, which, as noted, changes the nutritional composition of the animal.
It has been recognized in the past few years that certain target species require additional nutritional elements that are deficient in natural brine shrimp. While products have been developed as a supplement to brine shrimp to make up for such known nutritional deficiencies, no product is yet available that combines these additional nutrients with the brine shrimp itself.
Finally, there is the constraint of feeding size that must be considered. Even a tiny, newly hatched brine shrimp nauplii (approximately 460 microns in length) is still too large to be taken as food by the young of target species for a period of anywhere from 4-7 days into their life cycle. As aquaculture has developed as a viable industry around the world, a number of alternatives to feeding live, newly hatched brine shrimp nauplii derived from hatching encapsulated cysts, has resulted in a variety of feeds used in the early life stages of target creatures. Such feeds have typically involved various algae or algae substitutes.
It is an objective of this invention to provide a bring shrimp product as a feed in a much smaller micron size, e.g nominally 5-50 microns, than normally available, thereby Providing the opportunity for an early regimen feeding for target species, which is composed solely or primarily of Artemia.
It is a further objective to rehydrate and rupture Artemia cysts which remain in a state of diapause or are otherwise non-hatchable.
It is an additional objective of the invention to create a hitherto unavailable nutritional and food balance than obtainable by hatching Artemia cysts.
It is also an objective of this invention to provide a mechanical process, devoid of chemical treatment, for extracting nutritional values from unhatchable cysts for which dormancy and quiescence cannot be artificially hatched or broken.